Vacancies force seat slash in 15 engineering colleges

After the engineering boom, fear of the bubble bursting looms large over the horizon as at least one college has decided to down shutters and 15 others have chosen to cut down on the number of seats drastically.

| TNN | Updated: Jan 15, 2013, 00:57 IST

BHUBANESWAR: After the engineering boom, fear of the bubble bursting looms large over the horizon as at least one college has decided to down shutters and 15 others have chosen to cut down on the number of seats drastically.
Many others may follow suit. Sources said vacancies in the past three years are forcing this decision.

The International Institute of Engineering and Technology (IIET) at Gangapada has decided to completely close down its operations from the coming academic year. Established in 2010, the college had 240 BTech seats, including 40 each in computer science and engineering, electronics and communication engineering (ECE), electrical and mechanical disciplines.

"Around 15 colleges so far apprised us their intention to close down certain streams and courses or the institute in totality. We have recommended the All India Institute of Technical Education (AICTE) to withdraw its permission to run these courses," secretary, technical education and training, Chandra Sekhar Kumar, told TOI.

Most of the technical colleges, including the established ones, are shutting down sections like information technology (IT), applied electronics and instrumentation engineering (AE&IE), master of computer application (MCA) and pharmacy courses. "Seats are lying vacant in computer science and IT disciplines. That is why many colleges have decided to close down these streams from the next academic session," said Odisha private engineering college association (OPECA) honorary secretary, Binod Dash, adding, "it is unfortunate for educational institutions. We are concerned and I hope the trend reverses in future."

The total number of seats of engineering, MCA and pharmacy will reduce by around 2,000 from the next academic year.

Of the 44,000 undergraduate engineering seats, around 26,000 were vacant in 2012. Around 20 private engineering colleges in the state got less than 50 students each while 14 colleges got between 50 and 100 students. Of the 41,000 engineering seats in the state in 2011, over 24,000 seats were vacant compared to 18,000 in 2010. Large-scale vacancies of seats were also reported in MCA and pharmacy courses.

This is the first time the number of seats will be reduced. Private colleges, however, added seats even last year despite large-scale vacancies.

TECH TROUBLE

Total number of engineering, MCA and pharmacy seats will reduce by 2,000 from next academic year.

IIET is closing down; nine institutes scaling down operations.

Vacancies forcing closure; 26,000 of the 44,000 seats were vacant in 2012. The vacancies were 24,000 and 18,000 in 2011 and 2010 respectively.

List of institutes what's closed

In and around Bhubaneswar

1. International Institute of Engineering and Technology: Complete closure

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